To print an image, a print engine processor, referred to herein as a raster image processor, converts the image in a page description language or vector graphics format to a bit mapped image indicating a value to print at each pixel of the image. The bit mapped image is sent to the printer to cause the print heads to print the specified color value at the pixel according to the information in the bit map. If a printer has multiple print heads, such as a print head for different colors, then bitmaps are generated for each print head. The print heads overlay the images defined by their respective bitmaps onto the print medium.
To produce the bitmaps for the print heads, the raster image processor performs numerous transformations on a print image, which may include different types of data, such as line art, e.g., text and graphics, and continuous tone (contone), e.g., images. The raster image processor usually performs operations such as data compression, color space conversion, and halftoning when generating the raster bit map to print. After dissecting a print image into different components, such as color components, text art, contone, images, etc., the raster image processor must then merge the different elements together so that the original image, previously split into different components, is reconstructed for the color plane process.
As newer printers print at ever higher resolutions and speeds, the amount of data needed to generate the print job correspondingly increases. One of the major limitations in increasing printer speed is the time required to rasterize print data, especially the time required by the raster image processor to break an image into different object components and then reassemble, screen and merge those components into a final bitmap image.
Printer systems have a series of hardware and software operations through which digital data passes in preparation for printing, referred to as a pipeline. The digital data is used by a print engine to form a print image on a print surface using, for examples, a scanning laser beam or an inkjet. An area of the print surface on which the image is formed is referred to as a picture element (pel or pixel). One scan of the laser beam across the print surface forms a row of pixels, referred to as a scan row. As such, the print image is formed with multiple scan rows.
The type of data that passes through the pipeline may include both text, graphics, and image. As printers increase the density of dot placements, particularly with color printing that requires additional bits per pixel over monochrome printing, the time required for the printer's data pipeline to transmit the data becomes substantial. To fully utilize the increasing print speed capabilities of print engines, the pipeline of a printer system must be able to transfer data sufficiently fast to supply a continuous stream of data to the print engine, thereby allowing the print engine to print continuously.
Printer systems typically use data compression and decompression techniques to reduce data size, such that data may be transmitted faster through a printer's pipeline. Data compression refers to a process that attempts to convert data in a given format into an alternative format requiring less space than the original. As such, data compression systems effect a savings in the amount of storage required to hold, or the amount of time required to transmit, a given body of digital information.
In accordance with a known compression method, referred to as run length encoding, the length of continuous identical pixel data is converted into a run length code for transmission. For example, using one run length compression method, the pixel data line “aaaabbbbbbbcccccdd” is converted into the coded data “a4b7c5d2.” The coded data consists of bytes of pixel information (a, b, c, and d) and the number of those bytes that are the same (4, 7, 5, and 2). Each byte in this illustrative example contains 8 bits of pixel information.
Such a byte-based compression method may still not provide enough reduction in storage space or transmit time that may be required by current print engines. Further, conventional compression methods may not be targeted to handle multiple bits/pixel. Moreover, prior compression methods may not be efficient in terms of compressing color data.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide an improved method, system, and program to transform print data, such as text, vector graphics, images and raster data, into a final rasterized bitmaps in a more timely manner to increase printer throughput. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.